Ningyo
by Carpe.Deum
Summary: “Sanji! Is this eat-able?” Luffy called and the blond cook's eyes followed where Luffy’s arm pointed too, and his cigarette fell of out his mouth. He pushed his jaw back into place, and as composed as possible said “No, that is DEFINANTLY not edible"
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Why is the weather so bad…?" Nami wondered aloud to herself, staring out into the stormy night just as a stroke of lightning illuminated the sky. She sighed, frustrated at the fact that the weather had not let up for the past five days, and thus the entire Straw Hat Crew was stuck in Ningyo Village, a miniscule town on a small but well known island. Supposedly, this island was the only place known in the entire world to house mermaids. Supposedly. Sure, the residents claim to have _proof_, such as photographs and even the skeleton of a mermaid, but the last time anyone actually _saw_ a mermaid must have been centuries ago. Still, it was the most promising place in the entire Grand Line for avid mermaid fanatics, and you can bet a million beli that the residents milked the tourists for all they were worth.

But back to our crew. When the maelstrom started five nights ago, this was the only safe haven for the Going Merry to dock. The waves were too vicious to risk capsizing out there in the open sea. That, and Luffy seemed to have suddenly develop a craving for fried octopus balls, demanding that they make birth at the next town to get some. So here they were, stuck, listening to the village elder ramble on and on about mermaids while eating fried octopus balls.

"Did you know that if you were to consume the flesh of a mermaid, its mystical powers would grant you eternal life?"

"REALLY?!" cried Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper in unison. Robin, in the corner, chuckled to herself while reading her book. The village elder nodded knowingly, his face bursting into a gigantic grin.

"Yes! Of course! Why would I lie?"

Nami rolled her eyes, continuing to watch the rain pelt the glass. She just wanted to get out of this boring town already and get back to their voyage. Sanji approached the orange-head, giving the sleeping swordsman in the corner a nasty glare in the process.

"Nami-san, are you alright?" he asked, offering her a fried octopus ball. The navigator cringed at the sight of the deep-fried mollusk, also extremely tired of consuming nothing but that for the past five days.

"I'm bored out of my mind, Sanji. I just wish something would happen…"

Lightning lit up the night, and Sanji nodded in agreement, staring out into the sky and searching for the silhouette of their ship. He cringed, as did the navigator, as they watched an enormous wave crash up onto the deck, probably spilling plenty of fish and seaweed onto it.

"Hopefully tomorrow" he said, taking a long drag of his cigarette. Nami sighed heavily, rubbing her temples.

"Hopefully…"

* * *

"Oi Luffy! Go take a look at the damage while we get the supplies, will you?" Zoro told his captain, wondering if he would even notice that their roles had momentarily been switched. The captain gave his first mate a grin and a salute before dashing off to his ship to see what the storm had served up.

"WOAH!!" he exclaimed at the sight of the stringy green seaweed, scattered all over the deck like yarn. And the fish! There were so many of them strewn dead across the deck. Luffy momentarily wondered if any of them could be eaten, but then got to work throwing the seaweed back into the ocean. After about fifteen minutes of doing so, Luffy decided that there had to be a faster way of doing this. At this rate, he was going to be there for another five days! But what could he do… The captain kept pondering this thought while tugging at the tail of a rather big dead fish. Well… he thought it was dead. That notion flew straight out of his mind as soon as it pulled itself out of his grasp. Luffy cocked his head to the side, and grinned. This giant fish was alive, and could be eaten! SUSHI!! He clapped his hands, and started throwing the seaweed off of his lunch at a rapid pace to uncover his prize. Once the pile was depleted, the rubber man stood back to behold the sight of his wonderful lunch, but frowned. This wasn't a fish…

"Sanji! Is this eat-able?" he called, and the blond cook frowned, wondering what the hell Luffy wanted.

"No!"

"But you haven't even seen it!"

Damn. He had a point. The blond sighed, throwing a sack full of bread onto the deck and jumping up after it.

"What is it Lu-"

His eyes followed where Luffy's lanky arm pointed too, and his cigarette fell of out his mouth. Sanji pushed his jaw back into place, and, as composed as possible, said "No, Luffy. That is DEFINANTLY not edible"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What should we do with her?"

"Let's give her to the townspeople. They seem to be experts on this kind of crap"

"Are you kidding?! They'll probably eat her!"

"What do you think Luffy?"

"I've always wanted a pet!"

"Shut up you guys! I think she's coming to…"

The crew watched intently as what they found washed up on deck awake slowly from unconsciousness. The mermaid, as they guessed it was though it didn't really look like the scaly creature described at Ningyo Village, seemed to be modeled after a koi fish. She breathed deeply, the translucent gills on her neck opening and closing searching for water. When they realized they weren't in water, the mermaids' chest began to rise and fall slowly, breathing through its human lungs.

"I wanna poke it…" Luffy mumbled, sticking out his index finger and ready to inject it into the mermaids white flesh, but just then her eyes opened wide, exposing deep violet orbs, and she hissed loudly, using all of her remaining strength to push her serpentine body off of the kitchen table and onto the floor. Usopp and Chopper squealed like girls, their backs now against the galley wall, and watched frantically as the she-fish hissed and sputtered, heavily pushing her long body into a corner. The mermaid, her shark-like teeth bared, just glared at the crew warily. Sanji, Zoro, and Nami all exchanged worried looks, wondering what the hell Luffy had gotten them into, again. Robin just leaned against the bak galley wall, bearing her signature Mona Lisa smile. Luffy grinned his world-known grin, and crouched down to stare the mermaid eye-to-eye, from a few feet away of course.

"Hiya!" he said cheerily, getting an eyeful of her. Her pearly white skin meshed into the pearly white scales on her tail, ending in a translucent fin. Thanks to her being a koi-mermaid, she had splotches of orange and black scattered randomly all over her tail, with a few birthmarks in those same colors along her arms and back. A much smaller beauty splotch of orange and black adorned her right cheek underneath her fearsome violet eye. Her gaze was made even more deadly by the shadow cast by her waist long, stick straight, black as night hair. She growled, the small translucent fins that replaced her ears twitching slightly. She repositioned herself, exposing a white dorsal fin on back and tail (not to mention her completely bare and human female torso, along with the various cuts that adorned it), and let out a serious and shrieks, whistles, and clicks that no one could understand. No one except Chopper, that is.

The little reindeer took a brave step forward and a not-so-brave gulp before translating. "She says to feed her and let her go back into the sea"

"But I wanna keep her as a pet…" Luffy grumbled, crawling closer to the mermaid, whom backed up into the corner more. She let out more shrieks.

"Same thing as before" Chopper said, now hiding behind Zoro to avoid the mermaids' glare. The swordsman rolled his eyes.

"I say we eat her" he said with a wicked grin. The bloodthirsty look from her eyes fell away instantly, as did the growling and superior posture she held. She suddenly became a small lone fish surrounded by a school of sharks. Zoro let out a cackle at the sudden change of heart, and Sanji smirked, deciding that she was safe to approach.

"We're not gonna do anything to you, as long as you don't do anything to us. Deal?" he said, holding out a hand to the she-fish. She back away from the hand at first, narrowing her gaze at it, and reluctantly grasped it with her own ghostly, webbed, clawed hand.

"There. Now, you're hungry, right? Let me whip something up for you real quick" the cook said, rolling up his sleeves and turning to the kitchen. The mermaid watched him warily all the while, and then her icy gaze turned to the rest of the crew. Luffy leaned closer to her face, tilting his head to the side. Her brow furrowed, and a low growl reverberated from her throat.

"How come you understand us but we can't understand you?" he asked, tilting his head to the other side, and then leaning closer. She bared her teeth this time, the growl becoming a low roar.

"Luffy, stop bothering…uh…what should we call it?" Nami said, taking a few steps closer to the mermaid, and placing her hands firmly on her hips.

"Sushi" Luffy said, his gaze never breaking away from the mermaids' purple orbs. Nami giggled, turning, and stopped when she noticed Usopp staring avidly at Sushi's exposed human female parts.

"I'm gonna go get her a shirt-"

"I think she's fine the way she is"

"Me too"

"Make me" Sanji shouted from the kitchen, "three."

A vein in Nami's forehead pulsated, and within seconds Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji were on the floor, with huge pulsing sores on their heads.

"I think you'll like it here, Sushi" Luffy said with a grin, finally breaking the she-fish's' gaze and standing up. Sushi let out a weak cry, and although Chopper tried to translate, it was undistinguishable in this, or any other, language.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who took a quick peek at my story. Sorry it was short and not all too interesting in the first chapter, but thanks for giving it a chance. :D I want to dedicate this chapter to **sanjifanforever**, who is the first and only reviewer (so far, I hope.). Also, thanks for the alert sanjifan!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Nami-san! I brought you a nice fruity cocktail!"

"Thank you Sanji-kun" the orange head said sweetly, taking the concoction out of the cook's hand and sipping it. She smiled approvingly, and thanked him again as we ran off, hearing a crash from the kitchen. Taking another sip while she sunbathed on the deck of the Merry, she looked to her right, and sighed at the sight of the crew's newest passenger. It had been two weeks now since the mermaid the crew referred to as Sushi had called the ship her home, or the closest thing to it as of late. As of now, she sat on the ground, leaning up against the railing of the ship, watching the waves roll by. She had been anti-social, to say the least, only conversing with the Doctor, seeing as he was the only one that understood her shrieks and clicks, not to mention he was the only one coming into regular contact with her to help heal the various injuries she had acquired from who knows where.

"Sushi" Nami called, and the koi turned her gaze unto the navigator, cocking her head slightly out of curiosity. The human female took another sip of her drink, placed it on the ground beside her, arose, and sauntered over to the mermaid, only to sit on the ground beside her. "Let's resume our lessons, shall we?"

Sushi nodded, looking down and pulling on the wrist-long sleeves of the orange and white striped shirt Nami has given her. These lessons were to help Sushi learn how to speak their language, and to help the crew get a better understanding of hers. Also, it gave Nami a reason to try to bond with the koi, trying to pull her out of her anti-human thoughts. Today's lesson was a continuation of the last: learning names.

The navigator pointed to herself: "Nami"

Sushi responded with a watery cry that sounded similar, but not quite. Nami smiled sympathetically, and tried again.

"Na-MI" the fish said, the ending of the name sharp and shrill. Nami cringed, the noise painful, but patted Sushi's scaly lap. "Well done. All you need to work on is volume control. Now, over there is Sanji. Say Sanji…"

An hour later, Nami entered the galley for lunch, leaving Sushi outside to sunbathe. She sighed, rubbing her temples and finishing the last of her drink. Sanji came over and rubbed her shoulders. Nami mouthed thanks, and reached for a chunk of bread.

"How are the lessons going?" Usopp asked, not looking up from his latest invention, some kind of shoe that allowed the user to walk up walls. Nami let out an exasperated sigh. "She can say our names, the words pirate, nakama and ship. We've got a lot to go"

"Its progress" the doctor said, munching on his lunch. Nami sighed again.

"It's going to be extremely difficult when we need to make port tomorrow. She can't walk"

"Obviously"

"Can it, Marimo"

Luffy gasped, having been choking on a fish bone. He drowned his glass of rum, slammed it down, and interjected; "Maybe she can drag herself around town!"

Usopp laughed, heartily, pounding his fist on the table at the image of Sushi the first day being stubborn and dragging her serpentine body across the galley to Chopper's medical room. Nami giggled, also remembering.

"We can leave her to guard the ship" Zoro stated, polishing his blades.

"No way! She's injured! Not as badly as before, but still! We don't even know if she's able to defend herself!"

"I think she-"

"Nami!"

The crew went silent. No one had called the navigator, from within the galley that is.

"That sounded like-"

"-except clearer and more human"

"Sushi?" the young woman called, standing up and heading towards the deck. The men continued eating their lunch, but keeping a wary ear open for any sign of trouble.

"Nami! Nami!"

"I'm coming…" she mumbled more to herself than anybody. When she finally reached the top of the deck, she looked over to Sushi, leaning on her hands on the railing, and then blushed a deep red. She ran back downstairs, past the men ("DON'T YOU DARE GO UP THERE"), into her room, and ran back to the deck.

"…Was she holding shorts in her hand?" Usopp asked a moment after the woman rushed past them. Sanji and Chopper nodded in unison.

"Let's investigate!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, and began marching up towards the deck. The others followed their captain. When reaching their destination, Nami shrieked, holding up the shorts to cover up Sushi's lower half. Her now-human lower half. All the boys saw before Nami barked at them to disappear were Sushi's white legs with the various koi birthmarks, her knees together and ankles spread, clinging on to the railing for dear life. Once they were gone, Nami was able to put the shorts on her companion, and let out a long exasperated sound, somewhere between a groan and a sigh. Great. Now she had to be taught how to walk.

* * *

Sorry this chapter is so short; It'll be much longer in the next one. I want to say thank you to everyone that has reviewed and added this story to their favorites and to their alert lists. It really really gives me the want to keep going with this story. : I'm already working on chapter four, so it'll be out shortly. I pretty much now were the plot is headed, but if anyone has any ideas they would like to contribute to the story, drop me a message. Submitting even random words helps give me ideas for adventures. Thank you in advance!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"But… Sushi does not like these things you call shorts!" the mermaid whined, tugging at her crotch. Nami's eye twitched, slapping Sushi's hand away from there and telling her it was inappropriate to do that. Sushi squeaked is dissatisfaction, crossing her arms.

"You need to wear those. End of story"

"But it's not natural…"

Nami glared.

"…for Sushi. Sushi does not like these things you call 'panties' either"

"What do you expect? To go commando?!"

"If that means without panties, yes" she said, tugging at her crotch again, her hands earning another slap from the navigator.

Sanji and the rest of the crew watched and listened to this conversation on deck just two hours after they had found out their newest resident's tail had split into legs. She had learned how to walk very quickly, saying that she had already known how to walk, but her body has become unaccustomed to it, seeing as she had been swimming for a very long time. And that was another thing: Sushi could say things now. Very clearly for that matter. Sure, a porpoise squeak or whistle would escape her vocal chords every now and then, but it was a hell of an improvement. But right now, it was a major inconvenience, for Nami at least.

"Sushi is not used to having stuff between her legs"

Nami hit her forehead hearing Usopp and Sanji snort with laughter.

"What?" The fish inquired, tilting her head to the side.

"I don't get it either" Luffy added, picking his nose. This comment earned him having one of Nami's sandals flying towards his face. After that, the navigator stared down at the mermaid, wondering how the crew was going to get her used to human life. Sushi innocently looked up at her female companion, squeaking cutely. Nami sighed, patted on her on the head, and sighed again while looked at the log pose.

"Anything, Usopp?" she called up, hoping that the sniper could give her a reply. The curly haired-boy adjusted his telescope goggles, and shook his head. Nami sighed for a third time, looking to Sushi, who squeaked.

"I have a headache… going to bed…" the navigator mumbled, fumbling into the ship and into her room. Sushi remained where she was, her violet eyes darting around the ship. Let's see… How could the fish entertain herself? The two people she was closest to were busy at the moment, with Chopper playing with Luffy and all. The she-fish looked around, and decided to take her usual spot on the deck beside the railing, but this time swung her feet over the edge, watching the waves lap up against the Merry's wooden belly. She kept a steady eye as the waves reiterated themselves over and over, with the occasional fish jumping out and sending its greeting. The rhythm of the ocean lulled Sushi almost to sleep, but the laughter of the crew's three youngest occupants kept her awake. Their effervescence intrigued her, so she peeked over her shoulder at them, giggling at the sight of the three of them wrestling.

"They know how to have fun, don't they?"

Sushi squeaked in surprise, not even noticing that Robin had pulled up her chair alongside the mermaid. Sushi nodded reluctantly. She hadn't become acquainted with the archeologist and, to speak the truth, was quite intimidated by those sharp eyes of hers. Robin, on the other hand, was quite intrigued by this being of the sea, and her story, and smiled amiably at the fish. "Watch this"

Hands sprouted from the sniper, captain, and doctor, as they chortled with giggles at the sudden onslaught of tickling fingers. Sushi raised a webbed hand to her mouth to suppress her own giggles. Robin continued to smile knowingly, and with a flick of her wrist, the multitude of appendages was gone. The three lay sprawled across the deck, gathering their breath.

"Did I ever tell you guys about the time I saved an entire country from heat stroke by building the largest fan this side of the Red Line?"

"REALLY?!" Luffy and Chopper exclaimed in unison, sitting bolt upright. The Great Captain Usopp also sat up, leaning on his palms, with a smug smirk on his countenance. His hands began to move in elaborate gestures, as he started; "But of course! It was four score years ago, that I stumbled upon the island…"

"Wait! Don't start yet!" the doctor called, and suddenly jumped up and ran over to his newest patient.

"Sushi! You haven't heard one of Usopp's stories yet, have you? They're AMAZING!" the little reindeer stated, taking hold of the dark-haired girl's wrist and tugging on it. Said girl blushed a shade of deep red.

"Well… No, Sushi hasn't… But"

"Usopp's stories are awesome!" Luffy chimed in, clapping his feet together.

"Implausible, but good" Robin added, continuing her warm attitude towards the diffident young woman. Sushi nodded, allowing Chopper to drag her over to Usopp and Luffy.

"So where was I? Oh yea! I stumbled upon the island…"

---

"Nami-san! Land ho!"

"An island?! WHERE!?" The captain cried, jumping up and running over to his favorite seat on the head of Merry. Usopp's story had continued for a few hours, with his audience's attention never wavering. Now, Sanji had spotted the island that the log pose directed them towards, a petite slab of floating earth with one oblique mountain. The navigator breathed thankfully, her lips pressing into a soft smile of satisfaction. Finally, she would be able to go shopping at settle the panty issue. Once docked, it was decided that Zoro would stay to look after the ship (he was asleep anyways), and they split into two groups, the remaining boys and the remaining girls.

"But but Nami-san~! Why can't I-?"

"Because we're going to try to convince Sushi that wearing panties is a good thing"

"But panties are evil!"

"No they're not! Now, come on" the navigator cried, grabbing the fish by the shoulders and pushing her towards some shops. Robin waved them a warm 'see you later', following her two crew mates into the crowd.

"No…. Nami-san and Robin-chwan…"

"It's ok, Sanji. At least you get to have a great adventure with us!" the captain stated grinning, clapping his cook on the shoulder. Sanji sighed, declaring he was off to go grocery shopping.

"I guess it's just us three, huh?" Chopper asked warily, scratching his nose. Usopp nodded. "Guess so"

"Forward!" Luffy cried, running off into the town.

"Oi oi! Don't you think we should find out _where_ we are before we go off exploring? Luffy!" Usopp called, chasing after his captain. Chopper had been too distracted by the strange townsfolk dressed in capes, funny hats, and their magnifying glasses to realize that his comrades had disappeared.

"Waaaaaah! Guys! Wait up!" the reindeer wailed, trying to follow their scent as best as he could. While he trotted off, Chopper also failed to realize a portly gentleman in a deep brown overcoat, a newsboy cap, with a pipe protruding out of his mouth and a magnifying lens in his hand. Said gentlemen believed these newcomers must surely mean there is a mystery afoot.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

A little reindeer, scared half to death because he's lost his nakama yet again, stood frigid in a crowded street on Doyle Island, in its only town of the same name. He's lost sight of Luffy and Usopp, and can't find anyone else thanks to the smell of tobacco emanating from all the townspeople's pipes. He groans, taking two steps unsurely forward, only to take those two steps back. Oh what is a doctor to do??

"Something troubling you, m'boy?"

Chopper shrieks, turning on a hoof. He sees the person's knees, a man by the voice, and looks up, only to see a massive belly. He hops backwards, seeing the rest of the portly gentlemen.

"Um… Uh… I've seem to have lost my crewmates…"

The portly gentlemen tsk tsked loudly, shaking his jelly-doughnut of a head as he did so.

"The old 'missing persons' case, eh? Fret not, m'boy, for Farnsworth Pinchley is on the case!"

* * *

It seemed , by his endless ramblings about his line of work, was a detective. Him and every other citizen of Doyle island, apparently.

"So… so you can help me find my nakama?!" Chopper squeaked, eyes growing big with hope. The fat man chuckled.

"Of course, m'boy! It's what I do! Now, all I need is a brief description of your crewmates, and then I, Farnsworth Pinchley, will set a record for the fastest 'missing persons' case solves ever!"

This last part the detective declared loudly to the sky, and, for some reason, half the crowd rejoiced, throwing confetti and wishing Farnsworth the best of luck.

The other half of the crowd, however, raised an angry fist at the detective, declaring that THEY with set the record, and rushed off to go find their 'missing person(s)'. One woman in particular, screeched like a harpy and rushed up to Farnsworth's face and screeched again.

"You will not beat me AGAIN, Pinchley!" the woman said, bright green eyes flashing violently from behind large oval glasses.

Farnsworth sighed.

"There, there, Angelica. You will have your day"

"That's Ms. Shneidermen to you!" she said, running off, magnifying glass held high.

"Tut tut. Poor dear… delusional"

The chubby detective turned to the reindeer now, blowing smoke out of his pipe. Said reindeer jumped back, alarmed by all this insanity. Chopper's shivers increased tenfold when the portly gentlemen smiled.

"Now, chap, what were you saying about your crewmates?"

* * *

Humans. They were EVERYWHERE. She had always been taught not to fear humans, for if you were nice to them most of the time they returned the favor, but the few years she had spent on her own had taught her otherwise. The humans she had the misfortune of meeting while she was lost at sea were always either trying to eat her once they found out what she was, sell her, or (she shivered at this though) forcefully mate her.

Sushi stopped and shuddered from the tips of her gills to her webbed toes. She would NEVER mate with a human.

But she was getting off track now. Now, she needed to focus on finding the decent humans that had taken her in and fed her. They were awfully nice, she decided, and not at all scary like the others she had run into. The only scary one was that one with orange hair that INSISTED on wearing these infernal panty-things.

Sushi tugged at her crotch, continuing to walk down the crowded boulevard.

The fish had been distracted by some strange human food while she skipped behind her female counterparts, and when she snapped out of her trance, the pair was gone. Sushi, however, didn't panic. She would just head back to the Going Merry, because there was NO way she was going to find Nami to go buy underwear.

And so, the she-fish continued to stroll down the buzzing boulevard of Doyle Town on Doyle Island, towards the smell of the ocean, hoping to get back to the ship before the Navigator and Archeologist were able to find her. She whistled to herself, a happy little tune, not really paying attention to where she was walking, seeing how her nose was guiding her to the Merry. Sushi then realized, though, that she should have paid attention to where her bare webbed feet led her (the girl refused to put on shoes). Then she would have been able to avoid the frizzy haired woman with large glasses.

"YOUUUUUU" the woman screeched, digging her nails into the collar of Sushi's long sleeved shirt. Sushi squeaked, unsure of what to do. The woman looked on the point of tears.

"Please tell me you have a missing person" she sobbed, sniffling and sending mucus everywhere. Sushi let out a prolonged distress-squeak.

Be nice to the humans and they'll be nice to you. Be nice to the humans and they'll be nice to you…

* * *

"Oi….where's Chopper?"

Luffy glanced up at Usopp from across the table, and slurped the rest of his pasta. He shrugged, finishing off his plate. The Sniper sighed worriedly, placing a hand to his temple.

"Why does he somehow always get lost?"

"Chopper's tough! He'll be fiiiine!" Luffy grinned, ordering the waiter to bring him another order of pasta.

In all actuality, Chopper wasn't fine. He was scared out of his wits. This Farnsworth Pinchley character was plain old creepy, and the way he kept _smiling_ at Chopper was sending shivers down his spine. He was just so eager to help that it was just _weird. _

Farnsworth, however, at the moment wasn't smiling at the doctor or smiling oddly at him. He was on all fours, his nose and magnifying-glass pressed to the ground, following a trail of cigarette ashes.

"You said one of your nakama was a chain-smoker, correct?"

"Y-yes. Sanji, our cook. He's blond and has a swirly eyebrow…"

"Ah…of course he would like to smoke cigarettes! It's elementary!"

"Ehhh… Why?"

"Because his swirly eyebrow emulates the smoke coming from the cigarettes he so loves! Obviously!"

"Oh! I get it!" Chopper quipped happily, but shrieked when the portly man suddenly rose to his feet.

"Angelica? What on earth are you doing here? Can't you see I'm busy with a client?!"

The crazy young woman from before stood at the end of the trail of cigarette ashes, grinning madly. She cackled, her laughter bouncing off the walls of the alley.

"Did you enjoy my false clue, Pinchley?"

"You placed false evidence! You devil! You shame the name of Doyle detectives!"

"OHOHOHOHOHO There will be more, Pinchley! I will not let you find those people before I do!"

"Angelica you have no reason-!"

"IT'S MS. SHNEIDERMEN YOU DOLT! And I do have a reason" she scoffed, waggling a finger towards the crowd a few meters away.

"A nice young lady is missing her persons. They happen to be the same people your boy is missing. Let the person who finds these persons first be declared DETECTIVE CHAMPION OF DOYLE ISLAND!"

And with that, she ran off screeching, grabbing some poor girl by the wrist out of the crowd.

"Su-SUSHI?!" Chopper exclaimed, ready to give chase to the insane female-detective, but Farnsworth stopped him.

"Now, now, m'boy. The only way to bring Angelica to her senses is to beat her. Now… Let's think clearly here… Tell me a little more about your crew…"

* * *

The tricks both parties played on one another were horrendous. Angelica kept placing false evidence left and right, throwing Farnsworth off the trail. But by doing so, she also kept herself from her goal. Both Chopper and Sushi realized that they weren't getting anywhere when Farnsworth had rushed up to someone dressed up as how Chopper had described his captain. This person, however, ended up being Angelica in disguise, hoping to both confuse her rival and draw out the other Straw Hats.

"Sushi, do you think we should just go back to the ship?"

The fish nodded, and both tried their best to sneak away from the arguing detectives, but were foiled in their plans.

"WAAAAAAIT!" the pair wailed. "WE HAVENT SOLVED YOUR MYSTERIES YET!!!"

Chopper and Sushi shrieked simultaneously, and bolted down the packed streets of Doyle town, the detectives giving chase. They tried their best to avoid any collateral damage to the town, but still managed to knock over a smoking pipe stand. That, however was nothing compared to the damage the two detectives created.

The pair knocked over vendor stands, pushed innocent old lady-detectives to the ground, and even accidentally kicked a German shepherd puppy.

"They're vicious! I hope they don't catch up to us-WOAH"

Sushi had picked up Chopper and placed him on her back, and weaved in and out of the crowd of people like… well… A fish weaving in and out of seaweed. She was incredibly fast and within a few moments, they were back at the ship. They had lost sight of the detectives, but just in case, they stayed on the deck and out of sight.

"You guys back already?" Zoro exclaimed as soon as he had woken from his nap. The pair nodded fervently, peeking over the railing in a paranoid fashion. Zoro raised a brow.

"…what are you two doing?"

"N-Nothing!" Chopper exclaimed, jumping up and rubbing the back of his hat.

"We had an adventure" Sushi stated simply, never taking her eyes off the docks.

"Exactly!" Chopper agreed, clapping his hooves together. Zoro just sighed, shrugging.

"I hope you guys don't get like this after each adventure…"

Chopper sighed thankfully when Zoro yawned and went back to sleep.

"Thank goodness that's over…"

"Does this happen often?"

"Zoro napping? That happens all the time!"

"No silly" Sushi giggled, finally ripping her gaze from the docks. "The incidents with strange humans"

Chopper sighed heavily, sitting and leaning up against the rail.

"Unfortunately not"

* * *

I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever. School is just...meh. Let's just say I cant wait till the summer. Thank you for being so patient!


End file.
